Inmoco’s Elmo Gold Servo Drives gain EtherCAT compliance

Inmoco’s Gold Servo Drives, from Elmo Motion Control, are now compliant with the EtherCAT protocol, following rigorous conformance tests. EtherCAT is currently the fastest-growing open protocol in the motion control industry, because it answers the need for systems that provide unmatched levels of flexibility, synchronisation and true distributed motion control.

Elmo is the sixth motion control company to achieve EtherCAT compliance for its servo drives, a process that has involved the company in major investments, in terms of capital, time and personnel. The benefits of compliance are that Elmo’s Gold motion control servo drives can now achieve fast and simple integration with any other compliant products, providing high levels of synchronisation and co-ordination of nodes, reliable network operation in terms of efficiency, speed, bus load, etc., and efficient and fast communication transportation. In addition, EtherCAT is a suitable protocol for future-proofing applications. It is an open network for adding, replacing (including vendors) or upgrading nodes of any compliant product and, crucially, offers compatibility with future compliant products and systems.

Gerard Bush of Inmoco explains: “EtherCAT is the ‘future today’ for multi-tasking control with real-time networking. The strength of EtherCAT synchronisation techniques allows the protocol to be compatible with high-demanding and simpler applications. Moreover, combined with the correct implementation of both the network protocol and a proper device profile, true distributed motion control can now be achieved.”

Elmo’s Gold Servo Drives are an evolutionary family of motion products, including intelligent servo drives, a distributed multi-axis network controller, and a network I/O controller. These products provide connectivity (communications, feedback and I/Os), high performance and ease of operation, to create comprehensive, high-performance, yet easy-to-use options for modern motion control systems.

The synergy provided by these products enables engineers to develop synchronised multi-axis distributed motion systems in one seamless environment, using the combination of Elmo’s Elmo Application Studio (EAS), IEC61131-3, or C Programming, and Common Application Templates.

Their combination of products and software enables the Gold Servo Drives to deliver optimal results in a wide range of motion control applications across demanding industries – including semiconductor production, robotics, medical and pharmaceutical, avionics, laboratory automation, printing, sorting, machine tools and materials handling – where precision and deterministic operation are paramount.

To find out more about Inmoco’s Gold Servo Drives, visit the website at www.inmoco.co.uk.